In general, a network jack is applied to connect the computer to the internet. The conventional network jack has eight wire pins to electrically connect with the eight wires of a jumper.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a diagram of the circuit board disclosed in FIG. 13 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,466 B1. As shown in FIG. 1, the circuit board 10 has four pairs of contacts 13, 14, 15, and 16 mounted thereon. The pair of contact 13 has a first contact 131 and a second contact 132, the pair of contact 14 has a third contact 141 and a fourth contact 142, the pair of contact 15 has a fifth contact 151 and a sixth contact 152, and the pair of contact 16 has a seventh contact 161 and an eighth contact 162. The first contact 131, the second contact 132, the third contact 141, the fourth contact 142, the fifth contact 151 and the sixth contact 152 are arranged on the first, second third, fourth, fifth and sixth positions 1311, 1321, 1411, 1421, 1511 and 1521, which are on the same line L1 along the short-side 102 and perpendicular to the long-side 101, and the seventh contact 161 and the eighth contact 162 are arranged on the seventh and eighth positions 1616 and 1621, which are arranged on another line L2. It is to be noted that in order to simplify the similar illustrations for contacts 131, 132, 141, 142, 151, 152, 161 and 162, only the illustration for the seventh contact 161 is described hereinafter. The seventh contact 161 has a fasten end 1611 and a free end 1612.
The network jack disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,466 and other network jacks have some disadvantages. For example, the distance between the two contacts of the same pair of contacts is too small, so that the network jack could not afford the operating voltage higher than 800 volts. In addition, it is necessary to provide a push foot 1613 on the fasten end 1611 of the seventh contact 161 to mount the seventh contact 161. Furthermore, the contacts in U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,466 are rectangular so that their flexibilities are not so good. Moreover, the conventional contacts are made of beryllium copper, which is a high-cost material. Additionally, the conventional contacts are formed by a punch and then mounted into the circuit board. Taking the seventh contact 161 as an example, after the seventh contact 161 is mounted onto the circuit board 10 with the push foot 1613, the seventh contact 161 would be bent by a machine so as to form the three bending portions 1614, 1615 and 1616. As above, the conventional manufacturing process of the network jack is complex. In addition, the contacts of some conventional network jacks are arranged randomly, such as the contacts shown in FIG. 16 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,466, so that it is difficult to assemble the relevant network jacks.
As mentioned above, a network jack and the relevant manufacturing method are thus highly desired if they are able to overcome the drawbacks of the conventional network jack, such as the narrow operating voltage range, the high cost, the complex manufacturing process and the delicate assembling required.